NOTRE DAME, Ind. (Interstat) — Drew Berkland homered twice and drove in four runs as Notre Dame defeated Dayton 16-6 on Tuesday at Frank Eck Stadium.

The Fightin’ Irish improved to 28-20 while the Flyers fell to 28-23.

Berkland, who entered the game with a .300 batting average and four homers in his previous four contests, opened the scoring for Notre Dame with a solo shot in the bottom of the first inning. After Dayton had taken a 1-0 lead on a leadoff homer by MacDougall D in the top half, Berkland’s blast cut the deficit to 1-0. The Irish then erupted for four more runs in the inning, keyed by a two-run double from Dylan Passo and a two-run double from Shane Miranda, to go ahead 5-1.

Dayton chipped away with two runs in the top of the third inning, pulling within 6-3. But Berkland answered in the bottom of the third with a three-run homer that stretched Notre Dame’s lead to 9-3. The homer, which scored A. Graham and M. Barth, came after the Irish had loaded the bases on a walk and a single.

Notre Dame added three more runs in the fourth inning. M. Barth was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to force in a run, and Miranda followed with a two-run single to make it 12-3.

Dayton mounted a rally in the top of the seventh, scoring three runs to cut the deficit to 12-6. MacDougall D. singled to load the bases, and Smith M. hit a sacrifice fly to plate Rutherford M. A wild pitch allowed Carpenter G. to score, and Bello J. singled up the middle to bring home MacDougall D.

But Notre Dame responded with three runs in the bottom of the seventh. Jayce Lee crushed a three-run homer to left field, scoring N. Coy and M. Quatrani to push the lead to 15-6. Passo added a double before the inning ended.

The Irish added a final run in the eighth on a sacrifice fly by N. Coy.

Miranda finished 2-for-5 with four RBIs for Notre Dame. Passo went 2-for-5 with two RBIs and a double. Lee was 1-for-2 with a home run and three RBIs.

Dayton managed eight hits, led by MacDougall D., who went 2-for-5 with a home run and two RBIs. Smith M. scored twice.

Notre Dame’s pitching staff combined to hold Dayton scoreless over the final four innings. Dylan Singleton threw two innings of hitless relief, striking out two. Caden Crowell allowed one hit over two scoreless innings with three strikeouts. Eli Thurmond pitched 1.1 innings, giving up one hit and striking out one.

Dayton used nine pitchers, with Peyton Malecha, Jack Zimmerman and Lucas Collins each tossing scoreless outings of less than one inning.

The game featured a combined 19 hits and seven errors, with Notre Dame committing two and Dayton five.

Interstat’s game simulator had projected a final score of Notre Dame 7, Dayton 6. Interstat’s ELO system gave the Irish an 81 percent probability to win.